The Kingdom of God is Within You

d to Works Elucidating Christ's Teaching-Dymond's Book "On War"-Musser's "Non-resistance Asserted"-Attitude of the Government in 1818 to Men who Refused to Serve in the Army-Hostile Attitude of G

of their own so-called sect, which for more than two hundred years has actually professed the teaching of Christ on non-resistance to evil by force, and does not make use of weapons in self-defense. The Quakers sent me also their pamphlets, journals, and

men, the Quakers maintain and prove that nothing has contributed so much to the obscuring of Christian truth in the eyes of the heathen, and has hindered so much the d

y say, "but by means of non-resistance to evil, gentleness, meekness, and peaceableness, can on

nd therefore there can be no authority able to force the Christian to act in opposition to the t

e of earthly gains, try to reconcile the irreconcilable; but for a Christian who sincerely believes tha

conciling Christianity with force and war had been recognized long, long ago, but that this irreconcilability had been long ago proved so clearly and so indubitably that one could only

the same time, also from America, some information on the subjec

, in which he found ideas similar to those expressed by his father in the year 1838, and that, thinking it would be interesting

erica. He came to the conclusion that the establishment of universal peace can only be founded on the open profession of the doctrine of non-resistance to evil by violence (Matt. v. 39), in its full significance, as understood b

TIMENTS ADOPTED BY

ton,

ry in which we live, to publish a declaration expressive of the purposes we aim to accomplish

e world, our countrymen are all mankind. We love the land of our nativity only as we love all other lands. The interests and rights of American citi

wn case, and the unit cannot be of greater importance than the aggregate. If soldiers thronging from abroad with intent to commit rapine and destroy life m

ss absurd than impious. It makes the impartial Author of our existence unequal and tyrannical. It cannot be affirmed that the powers that be in any nation are actuated by the spirit or guided by

unchristian and unlawful; the existence of any kind of standing army, all military chieftains, all monuments commemorative of victory over a fallen foe, all trophies won in battle, all ce

legislative and judicial body, and repudiate all human politics, worldly honors, and stations of authority. If we cannot occupy a seat in the legislature or on the bench, neither can we elect others to act as our substitutes in any

hat under the new covenant the forgiveness instead of the punishment of enemies has been enjoined on all his disciples in all cases what

ued only by love; that evil can be exterminated only by good; that it is not safe to rely upon the strength of an arm to preserve us from harm; that there is great securi

e ground of allegiance to Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords, we cordially adopt the non-resistance principle, being confident

t of Christ. If we abide by our fundamental principle of not opposing evil by evil we cannot participate in sedition, treason, or violence. We shall submit to every ordinance and every re

nd to hasten the time when the kingdoms of this world will have become the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. It appears to us a self-evident truth that whatever the Gospel is designed to destroy at any period of the world, being contrary to it, ought now to be abandoned. If, then, the time

ceed to specify the measures we propose to

ey may belong. Hence we shall organize public lectures, circulate tracts and publications, form societies, and petition every governing body. It will be our leading obje

tation, and calumny. Tumults may arise against us. The proud and pharisaical, the ambitious and tyrannical, principalities and powers, may combine to crush us. So they treated the Messiah whose example we are humbly striving to imitate. We shall not be afraid of their terror. Our confid

ouses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land

midable may be the opposition arrayed against them, we hereby affix our signatures to it; commending it to the reas

trine of non-resistance was advocated in its full significance and in all its consequences, as it had been expounded in the declaration. Further

s, fearing that the too radical programme of the journal, the Non-resistant, might keep people away from the practical work of negro-emancipation,

ht it must have produced a strong impression on people, and have become known throughout the world and the subject of discussion on every side. But noth

es, in answer to my inquiry whether there are existing now societies for non-resistance, and adherents of the doctrine, told me that as far as he knew that society had broken up, and that there were no adherents of that doctrine, while at the very time when he was writing to me there was living, at Hopedale in Massachusetts, Adin Ballou, who had taken part in the labors o

d the Constitution of my country, if need be, with my life. Christ requires of me to do unto others as I would they should do unto me. The Constitution of the United States requires of me to do unto two millions of slaves [at that time there were slaves; now one might venture to substitute the word 'laborers'] the very opposite of what I would they should do unto me-that is,

to take from them an eye for an eye, a tooth for

n gallows, musket, and sword, to be used against its foreign and domestic foes. And the

tably exercise to the full the virtues of forgiveness to those who injure us, love to

priests to pray for us and beseech the bless

ce my authority and leave only immoral men in control of the government. The Constitution says the government has the right to declare war, and I assent to this and support it, and swear that I will support it. And I do not for that cease to be a Christian. War, too, is a Christian duty. Is it not a Christian duty to kill hundr

a nation may kill as many men as it chooses, and that will not be murder, but a great and noble action. Only gather the people together on a large scale, and a battle of ten thousand men becomes an innocent action. But precisely how many people must the

of Ballou's catechism

OF NON-R

e word "non-res

nd, "Resist not e

es this wo

y Christian virtue enj

s widest sense-that is to say, as intending that we

teaching-that is, not repaying evil for evil. We ought to oppo

that Christ enjoined non-

an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you Resist not evil. But if one smites thee on the right cheek, t

g in the words, "Ye have

ained in the Old Testament, which the Hebre

hrist refer to in the wo

in which they admit the right of doing bodily harm to thos

such ut

blood, by man shall his b

follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, fo

a blemish in his neighbor, as he hath done, so shall it be done unto him

ely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother.... And thine eye sha

Wrong must be opposed by wrong, murder by murder, injury by injury, evil by evil. Thus taught Noah, Moses, and the Prophets. But Christ rejects all this. "I say unto you," is written in the Gospel, "resist not evil," do

allowed the resistanc

no case the right to put to death his neighbor wh

or maim him i

N

to the judge that he who has

rough others, he is in

ct with foreign enemies o

He cannot make use of a deadly weapon. He cannot oppose injury to injury, w

vote or furnish soldie

at kind if he wishes to be

government resting on military force, ca

for some special object, right in it

taxes to suc

exacted independently of the will of the subject. It is impossible to resist it without having recourse to violence of some kind. Since th

e at elections, or take part

government, or law business is par

f significance of the do

who attacks another and injures him, kindles in the other a feeling of hatred, the root of every evil. To injure another because he has injured us, even with the aim of overcoming evil, is doubling the harm for him and for onese

o evil. It is crushing the serpent's head. It des

g of the rule of non-resistance,

g, and in extreme cases loss of life itself. But he who esteems life more than fulfilling the will of God is already dead to the only true life. Trying to save his life h

s Salvation; Res

es than to resist them with violence, less dangerous even in one's relations to th

y a few act thus, wha

seek after peace, and behave kindly and harmlessly, forgiving and forgetting injuries, for the most part enjoy peace, or, if they die, they die blessed. In this way, if all kept the ordinance of non-resistance, there would obviously be no evil nor crime. If the majority acted thus they would establish the rule of love and good will even over evil doers, never opposing evil with evil, and never resorting to force. If there were a moderately large minority of such men, they would exercise such a salutary moral influence on society that every cruel punishment would be abolished, and violence and feud would be replaced by peace a

Bal

the money-changers from the Temple, and so on, and arguments follow in disproof of them all. The practical reasonableness of this rule of conduct is shown independently of Scripture, and all the objections ordinarily made against its practicability are stated and refuted. Thus one chapter in a book of his treats of non-resistance in exceptional cases, and he owns in this connection that if there were cases in which the rule of non-resistance were impossible of application, it would prove that the law was not universally authoritative. Quoting th

w of Christ on non-resistance by force is an error that has long been observed and pointed out, and that men have labored, and are still laboring, to correct. Ballou's work confirmed me still more in this view. But the fate of Garrison, still more

rom eight to nine thousand sermons, married one thousand couples, and wrote about five hundred articles; but there is not a single word said of the object to which he devoted his life; even the word "non-resistance" is not mentioned. Precisely as it was with all the

-resistance to evil by force, and at confuting those who do not recognize this commandment, in the

or told me, Helchitsky expressed precisely the same view as to true and false Christianity as I had expressed in my book "What I Believe." The professor wrote to me that Helchitsky's work was to be published for the first time in the Tsech language in the Journal of The Petersburg Acad

h consists in believing God's Word; but now a time has come when men mistake the true faith for heresy, and therefore it is for the reason to point o

mitive Church was his special ideal of social organization, founded on equality, liberty, and fraternity. Christianity, in Helchitsky's view, still preserves these elements, and it is only necessa

s and power. From that time forward these two ruling powers were constantly aiding one another to strive for nothing but outward glory. Divines and ecclesiastical dignitaries began to concern themselves only about subduing the whole world to their authority, incited

with the addition of a few biographical detail

he Academy. But one year passed, then two and three, and still the book did not appear. It was only in 1888 that I learned that the printing of the book,

loping this metaphor, he says: "Christ, by means of his disciples, would have caught all the world in his net of faith, but the greater fishes broke the net and escaped out of it, and all the rest have slipped through the holes made by the greater fishes, so that the net has remained quite empty. The greater fishes who broke the net are the rulers, emperors, popes, kings, who have not renounced power, and instead of true Christianity have put on what is simply a mas

a ruler or a soldier; he cannot take any part in government nor in tr

ing the errors of official Christianity. The book has a special interest for this reason alone. But apart from its interest from every point of view, it is one of the most remarkable products of thought for its depth of aim, for

ng and proving as they do, on the principles of the Gospel, that our modern world takes a false view of Christ's teac

the kind has occurred, and the same fate has been repeated with all those works. Men of the most diverse views, believers, and, what is surprising, unbelieving liberals also, as though b

and Daniel Musser's book on "Non-resistance," written in 1864. It is particularly astonishing that these books should be unknown, because, apart from their intrinsic merits, both books treat not so much of

lieves that war is inconsistent with his religion while the go

rsal conscription. All-or at least the great majority of the people-are Christians, and all men are called upon

y but steadfastly

f this kind only obscure men's conscience. I cannot take part in the councils of government, and therefore I am not responsible for its misdeeds. Indeed, but we are responsible for our own misdeeds. And the misdeeds of our rulers become our own, if we, knowing that they are misdeeds, assist in carrying them out. Those who suppose that they are bound to o

the responsibility for his own actions. And that is clear from the following example. If your officer commands you to kill your neighbor's child, to kill your father or your mother, would you obey? If you would not obey, the whole argumen

epends, so far as it depends on men at all, on their fidelity to their religion. Let them confess their conviction, and stand up for it, and not in words alone, but in sufferings too, if need be. If you believe that Christ forbade murder, pay no heed to the arguments nor to the commands of t

is well known that there are many persons in the United States who refuse to fight on grounds of conscience. They are called the 'defenseless,' or 'non-resistant' Christians. These Christians refuse to defend their country, to bear arms, or at the call of government to make war on its enemies. Till lately this religious scruple seemed a valid excuse to the government, and those who urged it were let off service. But at the beginning of our Civil War public opinion was agitated on th

be the attitude of every man who wishes to be Christian to the claim on him for military service, when Christ has said, "Resist not evil by force." As for the question of the principle itself, the author regards that as decided. As to the second question, whether people have the right to refuse to serve in the army who have not refused the benefits conferred by a government resting on force, the author considers it in detail, and arrives at the conclusion that a Christian following the law of Christ, since he does not go to war, ought not either to take advantage of any of the institutions of government, courts of law, or elections, and that in his private concerns he must not have recourse to the authorities, the police, or the law. Further on in the book he treats of the relation of the Old Testament to the New, the value of governmen

ooks as to the Christian's duty in his attitude to war, one cannot help perc

th Christianity. Consequently there are every year among us in Russia some men called upon for military service who refuse to serve on the ground of their religious convictions. Does the government let them off then? No. Does it compel

October

e; we will not hurt anyone; all men are equal, and the Tzar is a man like us; why should we pay him tribute; why should I expose my life to danger to kill in battle some man who has done me no harm? You can cut us to pieces and we will not be soldiers. He who has compassion on us will give us charity, but as for the government rations, we have not had them and we do not want to have them.' These were the

as the whole episode indeed was unknown

om the people. And this is how the government behaves now, except in the case of the German Mennonites, living in the province of Kherson

nites to serve in the army on religious grounds, the go

ese measures are carried out with the greatest secrecy. I know that in the case of one man who declined to serve in 1884 in Moscow, the official

, no political cause for offense in him, dispatch him back again, and then he is sent to the learned men, to the doctors, and to the madhouse. During all these vicissitudes he is deprived of liberty and has to endure every kind of humiliation and suffering as a convicted criminal. (All this has been repeated in four cases.) The doctors let him out of the madhous

enounce Christ, or in some way or other to get rid of him unobserved, without openly putting him to death, and to hide somehow both the action and the man himself from other people. And so all kinds of shifts and wiles and cruelties are set on foot against him. They either send him to the frontier or provoke him to insubordination, and then try him for breach of discipline and shut him

thing that has been said, written, or done, or is being done by men to prove the incompatibility of force in its most awful, gross, and glaring form-in the form, that

merica, toward the elucidation of this question has convinced me that there exists in these ruling classes a consciously h